little albert

• done at john hopkins university by watson and rayner on a 9 month old male
• controlled observation (not a case study or experiment) done in a well lit dark room
• 5 stages such as establishing a conditioned emotional response
• procedure

  1. emotional test = was he already scared? will noise scare him?
  2. start to condition = 2x joint stimulation = hammer against steel bar = wooden blocks as control object
  3. any fear yet? embed via 5x joint stimulations
  4. is it generalisable to other furry things = rabbit, dog, cotton wool, watsons hair
  5. still scared in different setting = large lecture hall
  6. still scared after some time? = one month later
• findings

  • no initial fear of white rat
  • cried, head in hands when joint stimulation occurred
  • fear of white rat became conditioned
  • played happily with wooden blocks
  • less extreme fear of rabbit and fur coat but no fear of watsons hair or cotton wool
  • fear remained after a month but was less severe
• conclusions

  • phobias are conditioned emotional responses
  • fears last longer for those constitutionally inferior = unstable
  • fears can be generalised to similar objects
  • unlike freuds belief that phobias are due to childhood traumas
• lacks population validity = one ppt = male baby = cannot be generalised
• lacks ecological validity = lab experiment = done in 'well lit dark room' = cant be generalised
• standardised procedures = 5 stages eg. condition emotional response = can be checked for consistency = high external reliability
• alternative evidence = freud believes phobias are caused by unconscious conflicts = little hans fear of dad shouting to fear of horses= contradicts watson and raynor
• potential harm = no debrief or therapy given after = unethical = but said they offered but was denied and argued no more harm than every day life

  invalid consent = vunlrable 9 month baby = cant understand information given = unethical
• health implications = help treat phobias in new ways and counter condition them eg via systematic desensitisation = helps individuals
• education implications = le francois showed conditioning improved student performance by using positive stimuli and reducing negative = better economy